Beaubier breaks Yamaha’s win streak at The Ridge

2023 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
Round Four – Ridge Motorsports Park

Superbike Race One

Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne won his fourth MotoAmerica Medallia Superbike race of the season on a sunny Saturday at Ridge Motorsports Park, with 13 of 16 laps in the books, Tytlers Cycle Racing BMW’s Cameron Beaubier had tracked Gagne down, trailing the two-time and defending series champion by less than a second and setting up what looked to be a thrilling finish.

Going into turn one to start the 14th lap, Beaubier lost the front of his BMW M 1000 RR and crashed with hay bales and other debris from the incident bringing out the red flag.

The race was called complete, and the win was Gagne’s by 8.6 seconds over Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz. Beaubier, meanwhile, was given a 20 second time adjustment and that dropped him to seventh in the final standings.

A brave third place went to Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Josh Herrin just hours after a big crash in Q2 that left him battered and bruised and forced to use his back-up Panigale V4 R.

Herrin had briefly led Gagne in the left-right chicane off the start but ended up running wide a few laps later while trying to keep Beaubier at bay. The mistake put Herrin back in seventh place, but he battled through to fourth, which became third with Beaubier’s crash.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Corey Alexander had the best Medallia Superbike race of his career, the non-defending Stock 1000 Champion riding his BMW M 1000 RR to fourth and just .441 of a second behind Herrin.

Almost a second later came Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante with the Mexican barely ahead of the third Tytlers BMW ridden by PJ Jacobsen.

With Beaubier seventh, eighth fell to Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim with Aftercare Scheibe BMW’s Ashton Yates and Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders rounding out the top 10.

Notables not scoring points in the race were Gagne’s teammate Cameron Petersen, who crashed out of second place early in the race, and Wrench Racing’s Bobby Fong who was disqualified for ignoring a black flag.

Jake Gagne – R1 Winner

“I got off to a great start. I went inside because I know Josh (Herrin) is always going to be deep on the brakes. Then, somehow, he runs around the outside of me. I’m like, ‘I don’t even know how he got there.’ Fortunately, it’s tough to make that line so I squared him up and put my head down. I was really happy with the bike. Everything was working good. Unfortunately, it was a bummer to see Cam (Beaubier) go down and the red flag come out. I didn’t know until I got back who had crashed and who was second. A little luck on our side points-wise, but it would have been nice to bring that thing down to the last couple laps. I think that would have been fun racing.”

Superbike Race One Results

Superbike Race Two

The talk coming into the Ridge Motorsports Park was that the track is tailor made for Yamaha, as evidenced by six straight wins for the YZF-R1, but it ended on Sunday with a BMW M 1000 RR crossing the finish line first.

Ironically, that BMW was ridden to victory by the man who started Yamaha’s win streak at Ridge in 2020 – Cameron Beaubier.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Beaubier hinted at the possibility of a BMW win in Washington when he ran down Gagne and his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing YZF-R1 on Saturday, only to crash out of the race on the 14th of 16 laps while on the R1’s rear wheel.

On Sunday, Beaubier replicated the feat only this time he didn’t falter. He caught the fast-starting Gagne, took over at the front on the 10th lap and beat the championship points leader to the flag by a tick over two seconds.

For Beaubier it was his third win of the year and the 57th AMA Superbike win of his career.

When he was passed by Beaubier, Gagne knew he didn’t have the pace to match his former teammate and he opted to make certain of second place in the closing laps. At the finish Gagne was 2.045 behind Beaubier and 1.2 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Josh Herrin on the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R.

Herrin was fighting the injuries suffered in a qualifying crash on Saturday morning, didn’t get much sleep on Saturday night, and limped his way through his Sunday and onto the podium for a second straight day.

With Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Richie Escalante getting the better of the rest to finish fourth, it translated to the top four featuring four different manufacturers – BMW, Yamaha, Ducati, and Suzuki.

Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Corey Alexander had his second straight day of Superbike success with a fifth-place finish on his BMW M 1000 RR. Alexander was some three seconds behind Escalante and 3.4 seconds ahead of Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Cameron Petersen.

PJ Jacobsen was seventh on the third of the Tytlers Cycle Racing BMWs with Disrupt Racing’s Hayden Gillim eighth. Thrashed Bike Racing’s Max Flinders and CW Moto Racing’s Benjamin Smith rounded out the top 10.

Among the non-finishers were Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz and Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Taylor Knapp with both riders crashing out in separate incidents.

After four rounds and eight races, Gagne leads Beaubier in the Medallia Superbike Championship by 23 points, 156-133. Herrin is third with 122 points, 21 more than Scholtz. Jacobsen rounds out the top five with 91 points.

Cameron Beaubier – R2 Winner

“The guys have not stopped working on the thing and we came up with a good race bike yesterday and they made it even better overnight for today. I was feeling really good. Herrin and I were going back and forth there at the beginning. I feel like we were honestly both kind of making a couple mistakes. I was running wide here and there and so was he. Once the race kind of settled down, I put my head down and I was really surprised how good my bike felt. It was a pretty amazing feeling. I was able to run Jake down, but he was really strong getting off the last corner onto the front straight. I was struggling. I was spinning out of there pretty good. But I knew I had some spots that I was better than him in. Same for him, he had some spots that he was better than me in. I was able to get the lead and just kind of kept my head down but kept a little in reserve just so I didn’t throw it away like I did yesterday. I was honestly really surprised to see a little gap on my board. Feels great for the team. It’s a bummer yesterday, falling down like that, but it feels really good to cap a weekend off like we did. Plain and simple, the Superbike class is just pretty gnarly this year. To have three different manufacturers on the box and all the incredible riders up in the top 10, it’s tough but it’s pretty fun.”

Superbike Race Two Results

MotoAmerica Superbike Standings

Supersport Race One

Xavi Forés is a long way from his home in Llombai, Spain. But, as he’s done at all four of the racetracks at which he’s raced in the MotoAmerica series so far this season, Forés acclimates quickly, learns the track fast, and speaking of fast, he gets up to speed in almost no time.

Riding his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V2, and also a five-race unbeaten streak, Forés won Saturday’s Superport race one, which made it six victories in a row to start the 2023 season.

Saturday started out even better than usual for Forés since he also captured his first pole position of the season in the morning’s final qualifying.

Second place went to Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes, who continues to chase the all-time AMA race wins record. Earning provisional pole on Friday afternoon steeled his determination, but it was a different story on Saturday afternoon because he just couldn’t match Forés’s torrid pace.

Third place went to Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Teagg Hobbs, who was especially happy that he notched his first career podium in MotoAmerica’s hugely popular middleweight class.

Supersport Race One Results

Supersport Race Two

Seven MotoAmerica Supersport races have been held thus far in 2023 and Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati’s Xavi Forés has won all of them. That’s seven for seven. That’s a perfect 200 points. Spanish for perfect is perfecto. An easy one to remember. And about as easy as Forés had it on Sunday at Ridge Motorsports Park.

Although changes to the fork of his Ducati Panigale V2 didn’t pan out the way he wanted them to, it didn’t do much to hamper his performance as he sped away to a five-second victory over Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott, who in turn was some three seconds ahead of his teammate Teagg Hobbs.

With seven races in the books, Forés’s 200 points puts him 76 points clear of Tytlers Cycle Racing’s Stefano Mesa with the Floridian finishing fifth on Sunday in Washington. Scott is third in the standings – 12 points behind Mesa and nine clear of Squid Hunter Racing’s Josh Hayes, who crashed out of today’s race.

Supersport Race Two Results

Supersport Standings

TBA

Super Hooligans Race One

The Mission Super Hooligan National Championship held their second round of the season at Ridge Motorsports Park, and after taking both wins way back in March at Daytona, defending class champion Tyler O’Hara chased down his Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods teammate and race leader Jeremy McWilliams in MSHNC race one at Ridge, overtook him, and went one to notch his third consecutive class win this season.

McWilliams, meanwhile, finished second and just under a second behind O’Hara. DiBrino Racing/KTM rider Andy DiBrino, who started from the pole position in the race, rounded out the podium in third. It was a good showing for Oregonian DiBrino who was racing on his home track and in front of his home crowd.

Super Hooligans Race One Results

Super Hooligans Race Two

Following Sunday’s race two of the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship, the Indian FTR1200 motorcycles ridden by race winner Jeremy McWilliams and second-place finisher Tyler O’Hara were protested by another team. Upon inspection, the ends of the handlebars were found to be below the top plane of the triple clamp, which is a violation of the class’s technical rules.

As a result, McWilliams and O’Hara were disqualified, and third-place finisher Andy DiBrino, who was aboard a DiBrino Racing KTM, was declared the race winner. Second place went to Team Saddlemen Harley-Davidson rider Cory West, and Roland Sands Design/Indian Motorcycle’s Bobby Fong completed the revised podium.

Super Hooligans Race Two Results

Super Hooligans Standings

Twins Cup Race One

Robem Engineering’s Rocco Landers won Saturday’s REV’IT! Twins Cup race at Ridge Motorsports Park right up until the time that he didn’t.

Landers, who crossed the finish line first, was penalized two spots for passing under a yellow flag on the final lap of the race and that gave the victory to Team Iso’s Dominic Doyle.

The win, Doyle’s first in the class, came over defending series champion Blake Davis and his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto Yamaha YZF-R7. With Landers moved to third, Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s Gus Rodio was fourth with Trackday Winner/Blackmon Racing’s Jackson Blackmon rounding out the top five.

Cycle Tech’s Hayden Schultz had plenty to be woeful about as he crashed out of the race early while running with the frontrunners. Schultz went from being just two points out of the championship lead to 22 points behind.

Twins Cup Race One Results

Twins Cup Race Two

Robem Engineering’s Rocco Landers was still fuming about his penalty from Saturday when Sunday’s REV’IT! Twins Cup left the start line for its 12-lap race two and he promptly took out his aggression on the rest of the field.

Landers led from the start on his Aprilia RS 660 and was never headed in topping defending class champion Blake Davis and his N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto-backed Yamaha YZF-R7 by a tick over 11 seconds. Davis, in turn, had his hands full with Rodio Racing – Powered By Robem Engineering’s Gus Rodio leading the Virginian on the final lap only to have the 16-year-old pass him on the final lap.

Rodio held onto third, ending a three-race podium drought after finishing fourth on Saturday. Sunday’s result was his fifth podium of the season.

Davis still leads the title chase though Landers has closed to within 11 points, 127-116. Rodio is still very much in the mix and just two points behind Landers.

Rocco Landers

“The bike was working amazing, Robem Engineering/Rodio Racing worked really hard to make the thing work as good as possible. I don’t even think we made a change since qualifying one. The thing has just been on rails all weekend. I felt good. The thing felt like it was just doing whatever I wanted. The wind was a bit gnarly. Felt like it was kind of screwing with the front end, especially long corners. But on the track, we’ve been undefeated this season on paper though some would say different. But I see no reason why we can’t continue this momentum into Laguna.”

Twins Cup Race Two Results

Twins Cup Standings

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. One

The Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. program started off the first day’s races at Ridge Motorsports Park, and the group of a dozen female riders who each race-prep their own Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 motorcycles, train aboard them, and ultimately compete against each other at selected MotoAmerica rounds, put on quite a show for the fans.

Mikayla Moore, who won both BTR races a few weeks ago at Road America, emerged victorious again. Moore was recommended to the program by her friend Kayleigh Buyck, who ironically finished as runner-up to Moore. Sonya Lloyd, who was third in the first race of the BTR season at Road America, finished third again in race one at Ridge.

Moore took the checkered flag with a gap of over 16 seconds back to Buyck, but she was the first to admit that it was not a flawless race for her.

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. One Results

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Two

Race two of the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race program kicked off the final day of MotoAmerica Superbikes at Ridge Motorsports Park, and Mikayla Moore has firmly established herself as the alpha-rider.

She was recommended to the program by last year’s champion Kayleigh Buyck because Buyck felt Moore would be great competition for her. Is she ever. In Saturday’s race one, Moore beat Buyck by more than 16 seconds, and then, on Sunday, Moore won by more than 18 seconds over Buyck. That’s four consecutive wins for Moore, and she already seems unbeatable even though we’re only at the halfway point of the season.

The Sunday race-two podium was a carbon copy of Saturday’s race-one podium with Moore first, Buyck second, and Sonya Lloyd rounding out the podium.

Mikayla Moore

“When I’m out there, I have a lap timer on my bike so it’s really easy for me to keep myself going. As long as I hit my marks, and I always try to find time wherever I can. Every lap, I was finding time and finding better pace. In yesterday’s race, I caught a false neutral, so I wasn’t trying to have that happen again today. I just made sure I was really smooth with the bike and wasn’t aggressive at all with it.”

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Two Results

Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. Standings